designing a tattoo...how did YOU do it?

Knowing that a lot of you folks are inked, I was wondering how you picked your design. Did you look online for stuff or go to an artist and tell him/her what you wanted and see what they could whip up for you? Especially those of you with multiple designs, like in sleeve-type tattoos...how did you achieve integration of multiple ideas?

I'm curious because I'm considering a quarter sleeve tattoo. I've got lots of ideas, but no notion of how to make them into a cohesive and beautiful piece. And, I CERTAINLY won't be pulling the trigger on it until I do.

thanks!

im working on a full body suit right now. depending on how much you want to spend i would go about eaither going to a tattoo convention or looking through a bunch of magazines untill you find something similar to what you like. then go to that tattoo artist and give him a few ideas and let him run with it. if traveling around is to expensive then you could go look at the portfolios of all the good artists in tennessee and try to find someone you like. make sure thier line work is clean and that the shading is smooth. also make sure when looking at the portfolio that you are looking at fully healed tattoos not fresh ones. they dont always heal up exactlly like they were put in the skin. but most important thing in my opinion is to let the artist control the tattoo. he is good at tattooing and creative it will come out best that way. remember tattoos are permanate money is not a good tattoo will run you about $100 - $150 an hour and a quarter sleeve could take as long as ten hours depending on how big your arm is and how much color saturation you want

Brad's points are spot on. I would highly recommend taking some time to see different artist's work. Find one that does similar style tattoos well. Some artists do great faces, some do great color, some do amazing greyscale, etc. I wish I would have searched around a little more before getting my first two. I found my current tattoo artist for my third one and I have been going to him since. He does great work and loves what he does.

I'm about 2/3 of the way through a quarter sleeve on my left arm with that artist. I took in a couple photos and talked with the tattoo artist about what I was looking for. I'm leaving the details up to his artistic eye.

Go into a shop and start looking at portfolios and find someone who designs the style you like. Find someone that is experienced at FREEHAND - don't just keep getting these paste on templates.

When you find the guy, talk to him and come up with an idea. He should draw something out to show you. Try to do something small and quick as a 'test' because you can often transform a tattoo into something else. Once you get your tattoo, keep expanding on it with his help. Find the tattoo artist that has a VISION for YOUR arm, not your vision and he's just the guy trying to translate your ideas...

Once you find the right guy, keep adding on as you will. Once I was comfortable with my guy, I gave him something to look at and let him go at it free hand without any stencils and am very happy with his interpretation of the work.

don't get it. tattoo's are played out.











someone had to say it.

Ask this guy

GregR said:

don't get it. tattoo's are played out.











someone had to say it.

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Seeing as you took the first bullet, +1.


To each his/her own. As for me, my only thought is how silly a tattoo would look when I'm all wrinkly and strolling the beach.

shecky said:

Seeing as you took the first bullet, +1.


To each his/her own. As for me, my only thought is how silly a tattoo would look when I'm all wrinkly and strolling the beach.

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The way I look at it it just shows the young punks that you were once cool a half century ago.

I'm married to my tattoo artist.

My tattoos all have a deeply personal meaning to them,

Some are about my children, others are about events in my life that greatly effected the person I am today.

The tattoo should always be something you are not going to regret.

-Jason

shecky said:

Seeing as you took the first bullet, +1.


To each his/her own. As for me, my only thought is how silly a tattoo would look when I'm all wrinkly and strolling the beach.

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I just can't wait for the day the 'tramp stamp' starts being known as the 'old lady tattoo'.

I prefer the German slang for it: Ass Antlers.

thanks especially to brad and doog...excellent points that you both have made, there. I'd already checked into going to a convention or two, and really, really liked the points made about finding the artists' strong points...greyscale vs. fading and whatnot. That will come in very helpful. It's also nice to hear that it is possible to find an artist who you can trust to just go freehand. I'd always wondered about that.

Thanks to all who took my request seriously. To all others, I merely request that you pipe down so I can learn a little something here. Feel free to start another thread about why you hate tattoos or whatever, but I respectfully request that you not thread jack my sincere quest for information in order to express your opinion regarding the practice in general. Because, quite frankly, I couldn't give a rat's ass. You don't know me and what this represents to me. You have no right to judge.

i'm well on my way to being 100% inked except for the hands and face.

any good artist should be able to take your random ideas or sketches, and put them into a cohesive partial sleeve.

the artist should know enough about anatomy and how the arm moves, to place the design properly.

for example, i have a ring of stones on my left arm, on the deltoid. its actually oval shaped to follow the contour of the muscle, and it looks correct. had we done it as a circle, it'd only look asymmetrical and poorly done.

shecky said:

Seeing as you took the first bullet, +1.


To each his/her own. As for me, my only thought is how silly a tattoo would look when I'm all wrinkly and strolling the beach.

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Wait, aren't you wrinkly and old now?